“Hope for the Heavy Hearted”
Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Introduction:
I. The Call
a. Invitation – Come
There are many invitations in the Bible. Two of my favorites are:
(Isaiah 1:18) Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
(Revelation 22:17) And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
b. The Individual - Unto me
First, there is the invitation: “Come unto me.” It would strike the Jewish mind that Jesus is not, here, sending sinners to God. Neither is He sending sinners to the Law or to Moses. He is bidding them to come to Him. And, truly, you must come to Jesus for salvation and forgiveness of sins and cleansing, because the Law cannot save, and Moses cannot save, and your sins prevent you from approaching God.
11. The night before His crucifixion Jesus would say, in John 14.6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” And some time after His glorious resurrection from the dead and ascension to His Father’s right hand, Peter would thunder forth in Jerusalem with these words: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,” Acts 4.12.
12. So, it was only right and proper and good for Jesus to invite sinners to come to Him, since there is nowhere else to go to find salvation from your sins.
CalvaryRoadBaptistChurch.com
c. It’s Inclusiveness - all
YOU COME TO ME
Jimmy, and his son, Davey, were playing in the ocean down in Mexico, while his family -- his wife, daughters, parents, and a cousin -- were on the beach. Suddenly, a rogue riptide swept Davey out to the sea. Immediately Jimmy started to do whatever he could to help Davey get back to the shore, but he, too, was soon swept away in the tide. He knew that in a few minutes, both he and Davey would drown. He tried to scream, but his family couldn't hear him.
Jimmy's a strong guy--an Olympic decathlete--but he was powerless in this situation. As he was carried along by the water, he had a single, chilling thought: My wife and my daughters are going to have to have a double funeral.
Meanwhile, his cousin, who understood something about the ocean, saw what was happening. He walked out into the water where he knew there was a sandbar. He had learned that if you try to fight a riptide, you will die. So, he walked to the sandbar, stood as close as he could get to Jimmy and Davey, and then he just lifted his hand up and said, "You come to me. You come to me." (John Ortberg, in the sermon, The Way of Wisdom)
That's Christ's invitation to us: "Come to me and you will live!" If we go the way our gut tells us, we will die, but if we trust the one who died for us and rose again, we will live forever with Him in Heaven. Accept God's gift to you, and accept life instead of death.
(From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Father's Gift, 12/16/2010)
II. The Conflict (… all ye that labour and are heavy laden…)
The metaphor here appears to be taken from a man who has a great load laid upon him, which he must carry to a certain place: every step he takes reduces his strength, and renders his load the more oppressive. We all have burdens. One old time preacher stated that there are broken hearts in every pew! What kind of load are you carrying today? Is it:
a. Hurts – Pain
Can I teach you an important truth? You and I were never promised a pain free life. Life is filled with trouble, much of it our own making. You know this from your own experience. But God never promised that we would not have a wounded life, His focus is that you and I would not have a wasted life. I found a unique perspective on pain:
PAIN AND REGRET: A GIFT?
In 1999, Dr Paul Brand and Philip Yancey co-wrote a book called Pain: the Gift Nobody Wants. Dr Brand was born in India to missionary parents, and has spent most of his life caring for people with leprosy. One of Dr Brand’s greatest discoveries was that people with leprosy do not have "bad flesh" that just rots away. Actually, their flesh is as healthy as yours, or mine. The problem is that blood flow is restricted to certain parts of their body, and their nerve endings die.
With this death of their nerve endings comes the inability to sense danger to their bodies. Lepers live pain free.
Don’t you wish you could live pain free? Not when you realize that this absence of pain is the greatest enemy of the leper. Again and again they harm their bodies, without even knowing it. They feel no pain. Dr Brand knew that lepers often went blind. Why? Because they didn’t blink. They didn’t blink because they didn’t feel the pain that we feel when our eyes dry out. Dr Brand solved this problem by surgically attaching the chewing muscle to their eyelid - and then teaching them to chew gum.
Dr Brand was puzzled by the fact that lepers often lost fingers and toes overnight. He knew that they weren’t simply disappearing into thin air, so he commissioned workers to observe the lepers sleeping. To their surprise, they found that rats would come in and nibble the exposed fingers and toes. The lepers, who did not feel pain, never awoke to brush them away.
As the title of the book says, pain is the gift that nobody wants. Pain gets our attention and helps us to focus on the One who speaks to us in our pain.
(Stephen Sheane "Remembering the Blessings" 1/19/2009)
b. Haunts – regrets
So is regret. You know what we call someone that has no regrets? A psychopath! Without remorse, nothing leads to change.
Do you have regrets? I know that I do, lots of them, we all do; no one is immune to regrets. Do you know that we can have two outcomes when we are dealing with regrets.
c. Habits
ON HABITS
Someone Once Said...
* Thoughts produce acts, acts produce habits, and habits produce character.—Anonymous
* William James writes: If we realize the extent to which we are mere walking bundles of habits, we would give more heed to their own formation.
* Dr. Rob Gilbert writes: First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits, or they'll eventually conquer you
* You keep on doing it, and you try to stop, but you can't.--a six-year-old's definition of a habit
* Approximately 90 percent of what we do every day is governed by the habits in our lives.--Dr. Michael Mitchell, author of Building Strong Families*
* It is a hard thing to break through a habit and a yet harder thing to go contrary to our will. Yet if thou overcome not slight and easy obstacles, how shalt thou overcome greater ones? Withstand thy will at the beginning, and unlearn an evil habit, lest it lead thee little by little into worse difficulties.--Thomas à Kempis
* The Christian must see that bad habits are ultimately spiritual issues.--Erwin Lutzer
* Habits are the best of servants--and the worst of masters.--Anonymous
Morgan, R. J. (2000). Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes (electronic ed.) (398). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.
III. The Comfort that is Promised
2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted.
What is this rest that is promised?
a. Peace
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Jesus doesn’t promise to calm your storms but He will calm you in your storms! He speaks peace to your heart and mind.
b. Joy
1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Not happiness for happiness depends on happenings. He gives us joy deep down within that cannot be stolen from us.
c. Love
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Psalm 55:22 “Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.”
He invites us to take His yoke…what an inviting metaphor.
TRACTOR PULLS AND YOKES
Some people like going to events called Tractor Pulls. This is when they cover the floor of an arena with dirt and guys in souped-up tractors compete to see who can pull the heaviest loads. That’s nothing new because long before the internal combustion engine, farmers were competing with animals to see which one was strongest. They still have competitions in which workhorses compete. The beautiful Clydesdales breed has always been one of the strongest horses. Long before the Budweiser wagon, Clydesdales were pulling heavy loads. In these competitions, competitors made an interesting discovery. A single horse could pull a heavy load, but when yoked with another horse, together, they could pull more than the sum of the amount that each horse could pull alone.
For instance, let’s say a single Clydesdale can pull a sled holding two tons of weight. And another Clydesdale can pull three tons. You would think that when yoked together, the most they could pull would be five tons. But in reality when these two horses are yoked together, they can actually pull seven tons! You may think that’s not possible, but this phenomenon has been proven many times. It’s called synergy. Two pulling together can accomplish more than the sum of the two parts.
Now apply that principle to the yoke of Christ. You can try bearing the heavy load yourself, but Jesus invites you to join Him inside His yoke. Think about how much strength He has! He’s the strong One and I’m the weaker partner. Remember that first song you learned as a child? "Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so; little ones to Him belong, they (we) are weak but He is strong!"
(From a sermon by Davied Dykes, Taking His Yoke is No Joke, 8/16/2012)
Conclusion – I like the lyrics of a song called “Chain Breaker.”
If you've been walking the same old road for miles and miles
If you've been hearing the same old voice tell the same old lies
If you're trying to fill the same old holes inside
There's a better life, there's a better life
Refrain
If you've got pain, He's a pain taker
If you feel lost, He's a way maker
If you need freedom or saving, He's a prison-shaking Savior
If you got chains, He's a chain breaker
We've all searched for the light of day in the dead of night
We've all found ourselves worn out from the same old fight
We've all run to things we know just ain't right
When there's a better life, there's a better life
If you've got pain, He's a pain taker
If you feel lost, He's a way maker
If you need freedom or saving, He's a prison-shaking Savior
If you got chains, He's a chain breaker
Zach Williams
Jesus offers a new life to all those who struggle under a burden of hurts, haunts and habits. This new life is available and accessible to everyone.
